Safer workplaces make good business sense

Employers rate health and safety as one of their top two most important
workplace issues, a survey for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has
concluded.

The Mori poll also reported that three out of four employers said health and
safety requirements benefited their companies as a whole.

The survey of 3,000 working and non-working people and 500 employers looked
at people’s understanding of ‘health and safety’, what they saw as the main
risks at work.

Most employers saw health and safety as good for business and not a strain
on profits. More than 60 per cent believed health and safety requirements saved
them money in the long term.

Employees were most concerned about road safety, with health and safety in
the workplace coming next. Male employees were more concerned with workplace
risks than their female colleagues, whileÊsmallÊcompanies were less aware of
the HSE than larger firms, and were more likely to feel health and safety
requirements were bureaucratic and expensive.

A total of 60 per cent of employers had a great deal or fair amount of
health and safety training, although 20 per cent had none at all.